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Air Travel Sets Record; Doctors Prepare for Flu and Coronavirus; Impasse on Stimulus; Djokovic Disqualified from U.S. Open. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 07, 2020 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[09:30:10]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the TSA is reporting a travel record, at least for this pandemic era. Nearly a million travelers were screened Friday going into the long holiday weekend. But those flying are facing an entirely new experience because of this pandemic.

Our aviation correspondent Pete Muntean joins me this morning from Reagan Washington National Airport.

Good morning, Pete.

These -- these higher passengers number are a good sign for the battered industry, a good sign for the economy, hopefully -- hopefully not increasing the spread of Covid here. What do they really tell us?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a glimmer of hope for the struggling airline industry, Poppy. But I have to tell you, the lines here still pretty thin for a holiday weekend a year ago. And the numbers are still a fraction of what they were a year ago.

You know what's so interesting here is that the TSA now predicts about a million people will pass through security at America's airports, a number that has not been seen since March.

You mentioned that on Friday about 960,000 people flew in the U.S. That number, about 45 percent of a year ago, but the average still hovering around 30 percent, which really fits with what we have seen with an airline recovery, a bit of a stair step back to normal rather than a v recovery that airlines once hoped.

You know, they are trying to show that the flying experience is totally different than what it was before the pandemic. Stepped up cleaning procedures. Delta says it has now banned about 270 passengers for refusing to wear a mask on board its flights.

You know, the differences are also here at security as well. The TSA has popped up acrylic barriers along the security line to try and protect you from employees and vice versa. They've also changed the procedures. They want you to empty your pockets and put all of those things into your carry-on bag rather than those typical trays to avoid the normal touch points.

You know, airlines wants to show that things are different. The industry wants a recovery. But we are only weeks away until tens of thousands of airline employees will find themselves furloughed because of this pandemic. They hope that this is the start of what will be a real recovery, Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes. As we were saying, October 1st, right, that deadline will show us so much about the real state of the industry.

MUNTEAN: Yes.

HARLOW: Pete, important reporting. Thanks a lot.

Meantime, a former FDA commissioner is now warning it's going to be really hard to control coronavirus as we move into the fall and winter because he expects the virus will start to spread more aggressively.

And this comes as doctors will already be battling this pandemic and bracing for flu season.

Elizabeth Cohen joins me now.

Good morning, Elizabeth.

Experts say, and I just made our appointments for flu shots later this week, but this year it's even more critical.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And this year we need to do everything we can, Poppy, to prevent both Covid and flu. Now, for Covid, there's no shot for you to get. But for flu, you can and should get a shot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Relax your arm. No, relax your arm.

COHEN (voice over): Nobody likes getting a shot, but this year it's more important than ever because this year we're going to have not just flu, but also Covid-19.

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CDC: I am worried. I do think the fall and the winter of 2020 and 2021 are going to be probably one of the most difficult times that we've experienced in American public health.

COHEN: This year, there's not one, not two, but three reasons to get yourself a flu shot. Number one, it will decrease the chances that you'll get the flu, or, if you do get the flu, you'll get a milder case. Number two, you won't spread the flu to other people. Number three, you won't end up taking up a hospital bed that someone else, like a Covid patient, would need.

And if you get sick, getting the right diagnosis could be tough.

DR. MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, COVID-19 TECHNICAL LEAD, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: We won't be able to distinguish immediately between whether somebody has flu or whether somebody has Covid.

COHEN: Flu vaccine manufacturers have ramped up production, making tens of millions more doses than last season. And there are two new flu vaccines designed to protect older people who are especially vulnerable to the virus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So this child is --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ryan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is Ryan.

COHEN: And for children, the Trump administration last month authorized pharmacists to administer the flu shot to children ages three and older. Hopefully this upcoming flu season will end up being relatively tame. In the southern hemisphere, where flu season is now ending, they've had a pretty easy season.

KERKHOVE: Many of the physical distancing and public health and social measures that have been put in place, which keep -- keeps people apart, they have actually played a role in reducing circulation of influenza.

COHEN: Even if that happens in the northern hemisphere, though, it's still a good idea to get a flu shot to keep you and those around you as healthy as possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: Now, one thing that's getting even more complicated this year is that many Americans get their flu shots at work, really a significant percentage of adults. But, this year, many people are working from home, so we all need to think through alternatives.

[09:35:04]

Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes. The fact that pharmacists can give them gives people more -- more options for sure.

Elizabeth, before you go, this might seem like a silly question to you, but I'm really curious about it, can someone have the flu and Covid at the same time? And, if so, if they get a flu test, do they need to get a Covid test as well to figure out if they have one or both?

COHEN: Poppy, it's not a silly question at all. In fact, the CDC has weighed in on this and has said, yes, we think it is possible for people to have flu and Covid at the same time.

Now, there are some tests being developed that actually test for both of those things at once or your doctor could give you an individual flu test and an individual Covid test. But it does make things much more complicated. Getting the right diagnosis this year is not going to always be straightforward. HARLOW: OK, Elizabeth, great reporting. Thank you so, so much.

COHEN: Thanks.

HARLOW: Ahead for us, millions of Americans still out of work, both Republicans and Democrats say, yes, more stimulus is needed, but they cannot agree on how much and, for now, that means no deal is closer. A former key economic adviser to the president joins us next.

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[09:40:26]

HARLOW: Well, it's Labor Day, right, and our -- our thanks to all of those who work so hard, especially essential workers, especially today. But, right now, 13.3 million Americans are out of work collecting unemployment and there are still no signs of a deal between Democrats and congressional Republicans, Senate Republicans and the White House on a new stimulus package that would provide relief to those folks.

Watch this.

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STEVEN MNUCHIN, TREASURY SECRETARY: The speaker has refused to sit down and negotiate unless we agree to something like a $2.5 trillion deal in advance.

We put $3 trillion into the economy when the economy was completely shut down. We've now reopened the economy. Well, let's -- let's do a more targeted bill now. If we need to do more in 30 days, we'll continue to do more.

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HARLOW: That was Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin just yesterday.

With me now is Tomas Philipson, and he's the former acting chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Trump White House.

It's good to have you. Thanks for the time.

TOMAS PHILIPSON, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ECONOMIST: Good to be with you, Poppy.

HARLOW: Secretary Mnuchin wasn't exactly precise there, but, yes, Democrats want about $2.2 trillion in this next package. The White House, Republicans, around $1.3 trillion. Neither side is budging. As you know, millions of Americans are struggling more and more every day because there is no deal here.

If you were still working in the White House, you spent so much time in the Oval Office, what would you tell the president, Secretary Mnuchin, Mitch McConnell to do? PHILIPSON: Well, I agree with them on certain aspects and not others.

So I don't think this is a stimulus, first of all. I don't think, you know, D.C. is very Keynesian. They -- and sort of believe that if you take money from some people and give it to others, you're going to create a larger total, which is not -- a lot of economists don't believe. So I think this is much more about liquidity than actually creating jobs.

And if you look at the liquidity that was provided by -- by cures the first round, it was essentially a massive overspending. You and I have talked about that in the past, that if you look at -- it was basically a 45 percent increase in disposable income, which is income that you get from your job, but also government. So that went up in a -- in a huge recession.

Usually when we're in a boom, not a recession, we're lucky to have 10 percent growth in disposable income. In this Covid recession, we have 45 percent. So I think it's been largely this liquidity has been largely overdone.

HARLOW: All right, so you think they've done it wrong. But as you also know, Goldman Sachs said that just that lapse in $600 a week increase cash benefits, that lapse has cost $70 billion in personal income in August and the $300 additional from the president's executive order per week is too little too late.

So I guess I'm trying to get at like what would you do instead? Because something has to be done quickly.

PHILIPSON: Well, I mean, you don't want to have people get richer because Covid happened, right? So you can certainly have replacement of income and -- and --

HARLOW: I mean, Tomas, I think it's a little bit of a stretch to call people relying on unemployment benefits getting richer. I mean they're -- they're getting more money, I understand that, but, come on, they're not getting rich off this.

PHILIPSON: They're not -- they're -- they're certainly -- a lot of people are actually richer than they were before Covid because of the unemployment. The more important point, otherwise, why would personal income or disposable income go up by 45 percent? Someone's got to be rich -- be richer.

I'm not saying that there's not people in need. I'm (INAUDIBLE) people in need than just throwing money out, which was, I think, a -- a big mismanagement.

HARLOW: Yes. OK. So help -- you brought up -- you brought up Keynesian economics, so let me ask you about that. And -- and, again, I just want to get to what you think should be done right now.

I'm sure you read it, but back in July, "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board wrote this, quote, the larger problem here is that Republicans, in the age of Donald Trump, don't know what they stand for on economics. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is a Keynesian whose idea of compromise is half of whatever Mrs. Pelosi wants. Republicans have no discernible economic agenda beyond paying people to feel better during the pandemic.

As a Republican, do you agree with the assessment?

PHILIPSON: Well, I think the whole city of D.C. has that kind of a problem where you -- you know, if you -- if you do a package like this, what happens is people lending Monday to the government, that is to say they buy government bonds that goes to the Treasury and then Treasury spends that on whatever stimulus. So you're taking away consumption and investment for those people who are lending the money and giving it to other people who are receiving the money.

Most of D.C. believe that that's actually increasing total activity, or aggregate demand, as we call it, which is both consumption and investment.

[09:45:07]

A lot of economists outside D.C. do not believe that.

So I agree, I -- I mean a lot of people in D.C. have a misperception in my view of -- that you can raise economic activity by redistributing. But this is not -- this is not a stimulus, this is a liquidity effort to basically keep people afloat.

HARLOW: OK.

Two more brief questions for you. The first is what you would specifically do, let's say for restaurants here in New York, right, this dire warning on Friday that two-thirds of New York restaurants surveyed think that they could be out of business by January. Two- thirds. I mean that is a huge industry for this city, for this state.

What would you specifically do for that sector?

PHILIPSON: Yes.

HARLOW: Because they're waving their arms and they're saying, even with PPP, we can't make it. And the airlines and these big, you know, industries that have big lobbying groups are getting package and -- and we're not.

PHILIPSON: Yes. Every industry where consumers have to consume in group, that is sports, airlines, restaurants, what have you, have been hit by this because people are voiding groups, right? So there is -- obviously there's a need for liquidity for these things to carry us through. I'm -- I'm allot more optimistic on a vaccine than some other people are. But I'm not saying there's not -- no role for liquidity. There's a role for the government to provide liquidity, but I don't think that you're going to basically be creating jobs by redistributing money. That's my only point.

HARLOW: OK. So another capital injection for them or another form of PPP. We have a minute left and I want to get your take on this because the Friday jobs number was encouraging for sure. Unemployment's down at 8.4 percent. It's below great recession levels.

But when I was digging into the number more, I think what doesn't get covered enough is the fact that you still have real unemployment or the U6 at 14.2 percent. You have black unemployment still at 13 percent. You have permanent job losses now increasing up to 3.4 million. And -- and a U.S. economy with 4.7 million fewer jobs than when the president took office. And, of course, the pandemic is to blame for a majority of this.

But it -- but the White House is rosy. I mean Mnuchin said that if the president has a second term, you're going to get back down to 3 percent to 4 percent unemployment.

What do you think unemployment will be on Election Day?

PHILIPSON: Well, I think it's going to be -- keep going down, especially because we kind of have this cycling of the disease, which is a natural consequence of prevention rising when it goes up and falling when it goes down.

But I think part of the issue clearly has to be that we have these high -- what economists call implicit (ph) tax rates, meaning when you work, you earn less than you don't work. And I -- we've never seen that in this country. We have a, you know, a 200 percent tax rate on work when people earn half the money on work from not working relative to not working. And that certainly is something that's put a brake on employment. I mean it's basically -- it's like --

HARLOW: But unemployment on Election Day will be, what do you think?

PHILIPSON: No, I mean it's going to go down. I don't know exactly -- I don't think anyone knows because it all depends on what -- what happens to Covid, if it's going to circle -- circle back or not.

HARLOW: Understood. Much more to talk to you about. We'll have you back soon.

Tomas Philipson, thanks a lot.

PHILIPSON: OK. Thanks.

HARLOW: All right.

Well, did you see this? Tennis superstar Novak Djokovic breaking his silence hours after he's removed from the U.S. Open for hitting a line judge with a ball -- look at that -- by accident, obviously, but she was hurt and down for a few minutes. We'll have an update there.

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[09:53:01]

HARLOW: Well, tennis star Novak Djokovic is out of the U.S. Open in one of the most shocking ways ever.

Andy Scholes joins us now with more.

I couldn't believe it actually at first when I saw it happened yesterday. I was like re-watching the video.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, and, Poppy, I don't think we've ever seen the number one player in the world get, you know, kicked out of a grand slam tournament like this. And, you know, make no mistake, Novak Djokovic was the overwhelming favorite to win this year's men's title at Flushing Meadows, but he let his frustrations get the better of him and now he's going to have to wait to try to win that 18th grand slam title.

I'll show you what happened. it was in the first set yesterday. So Djokovic, after losing a service game, just frustrated, fired a ball with his racket and hit the line judge right in the neck. He immediately saw remorse and went over to see if she was OK. And she was able to end up getting up and walk off the court.

Djokovic then he spoke with the officials there and he was told he was disqualified from the tournament. Now, Djokovic left without speaking with reporters, but did give a lengthy apology on Instagram saying this whole situation has left me really sad and empty. I checked on the lines person and the tournament told me that thank God she is feeling OK. I'm extremely sorry to have caused her such stress. So unintended. So wrong. He went on to say, I need to go back within and work on my disappointment and turn this all into a lesson for my growth and evolution as a player and human being. I apologize to the U.S. Open tournament and everyone associated for my behavior.

The USTA says Djokovic will lose all ranking points and the $250,000 in prize money he had earned at the tournament. Djokovic could also be receiving a further fine.

All right, the NBA playoffs continuing last night. LeBron and the Lakers trying to bounce back after dropping the series opener to the Rockets. And the Lakers jumping out to a huge lead early in this one. LeBron catching the alley-oop. They were up 42-21 at that point, but the Rockets came all the way back, actually had the lead going into the fourth quarter, but under 40 second to go, LeBron coming through in the clutch with the Lakers up four, hits that fade-away jumper to put the game away.

[09:55:04]

They win 117-109 to even the series. That game, LeBron's 1,000th win in his career.

The Bucks, meanwhile, trying to avoid the sweep by the Heat yesterday. Didn't look good for them when reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo reinjured his ankle. Giannis had to be held off the court here.

But Milwaukee just refusing to go quietly thanks to Chris Middleton. He had 30 of his 36 after halftime, including that three right there to seal it in overtime. Milwaukee avoids a sweep, 118-115. They're now going to wait and see if Giannis is going to be able to play tomorrow night in game five.

And we've got a huge double header on TNT tonight starting with a pivotal game five between the Raptors and Celtics. That's at 6:30 Eastern. Toronto's fought back to even that series at two games apiece.

Then you've also got the Clippers and Nuggets game three. That series also tied at one game apiece.

And, Poppy, you know, yesterday, Sunday, it was the last Sunday until February that we're not going to have NFL football, assuming everything goes well in terms of coronavirus with the NFL.

So there is something to look forward to.

HARLOW: Let's hope for that. I mean, you know who I'm rooting for. It's their year, I swear.

Andy Scholes, thank you.

SCHOLES: Finally. Maybe one day. Yes, all right.

HARLOW: Maybe. Thanks, Andy.

This pandemic is not stopping large crowds this holiday weekend. We're seeing it, look at that, from coast to coast. Could a surge in Covid, let's hope not, though, be next?

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